An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.

Envy is the basis of democracy.

I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!

Written laws are like spiderwebs: they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.

You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.

Why has the government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.

All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.